Today is primary day in Missouri. Voters are hitting the polls to decide who will be the Republican nominee and take on incumbent Claire McCaskill in November. The people have two clear choices, to nominate a ladder-climbing and philosophically illiterate politician like Josh Hawley, or a principled and seasoned grassroots leader like Austin Petersen.

One thing that never ceases to amaze is the Republican Party’s uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

When the Democrats have control of the levers of power they work ruthlessly to get their agenda passed, even if it means using arcane budget rules to pass a health care bill with a simple majority in the Senate, the contents of which were so secret we were told they would have to “pass the bill to see what was in it”.

This past Saturday I sat in on an interesting session at FreedomFest in Las Vegas. It was entitled “What will it take to win in 2018, 2020 – and beyond?”, and the panel was populated by several notable libertarian figures, one of whom was Nick Sarwark, the Chair of the Libertarian Party (LP).

The straw poll was conducted exactly like it's predecessor at the 2015 RLC National Convention in Nashua using not only traditional plurality voting, but approval voting and a rating from 1-5 for any of the listed candidates.

About the Republican Liberty Caucus

The Republican Liberty Caucus is a 527 voluntary grassroots membership organization dedicated to working within the Republican Party to advance the principles of individual rights, limited government and free markets. Founded in 1991, it is the oldest continuously-operating organization within the Liberty Republican movement.